Absorbent articles for personal hygiene, such as disposable diapers for infants, training pants for toddlers or adult incontinence undergarments, are designed to absorb and contain body exudates, in particular large quantity of urine. These absorbent articles comprise several layers providing different functions, for example a topsheet, a backsheet and in-between an absorbent core, among other layers.
The function of the absorbent core is to absorb and retain the exudates for a prolonged amount of time, for example overnight for a diaper, minimize re-wet to keep the wearer dry and avoid soiling of clothes or bed sheets. The majority of currently marketed absorbent articles comprise as absorbent material a blend of comminuted wood pulp with superabsorbent polymers (SAP) in particulate form, also called absorbent gelling materials (AGM), see for example U.S. Pat. No. 5,151,092 (Buell). Absorbent articles having a core consisting essentially of SAP as absorbent material (so called “airfelt-free” cores) have also been proposed but are less common than traditional mixed cores (see e.g. WO2008/155699 (Hundorf), WO95/11652 (Tanzer), WO2012/052172 (Van Malderen)).
Absorbent articles comprising an absorbent core with slits or grooves have also been proposed, typically to increase the fluid acquisition properties of the core or to act as a folding guide. WO95/11652 (Tanzer) discloses absorbent articles which include superabsorbent material located in discrete pockets having water-sensitive and water-insensitive containment structure. WO2009/047596 (Wright) discloses an absorbent article with a slit absorbent core.
Absorbent products which are flexible in the crotch region provide the benefits of improved freedom of movement for the wearer, especially when the user's legs compress the crotch region of the article laterally. However the inventors have found that highly flexible products may in generally have a poor resiliency when becoming wet, and thus tend to lose their shape when compressed by the movement of the wearer's legs. As the absorbent core is deformed, the product can fail performing properly and this increases the chance of failure such as fluid leakages. The inventors have now found a new absorbent core structure which can provide the benefit of good flexibility combined with good resiliency when loaded with fluid.